Too much water is usually the reddish spots!

I have a tall thin ficus that has lost all of the lower leaves. I was hoping to prune the main stem at the middle, but this is below the lowest leaves! Do you think this will work, or is it likely to kill the plant?

Hi Robin: my daughter has an 9′ FLFig and gave me two stalks she snipped off last Fall (2016). She rooted them in a glass of water until there was a good-sized root system then we planted them in late January 2017 in a pot situated in my north and north/east facing condo. It has grown SO fast – about 6″ a month – so in a few months, it will need lopping off at the top as I want it to have a more rounded shape at the top and not just straight stalks. I would say that every ten days, I have a new leaf!! To answer your question, as I said, my daughter just cut two sections off and put them in water. I have no idea from where she cut them but would assume it was just above a leaf on her “donor tree”. I had a huge Ficus tree – many years old – but gave it away because washing off the dusty leaves required too much mind-numbing work while the big leaves of the FLFigs are much easier to wipe down with a damp cloth. Good luck. When I trim my tree (after a few more months of growth), and if and when I see it grow into a rounded shape, I will post my results. Wish me luck!

By the way, my tree is near a fairly cool window in the Winter but it receives plenty of light due to the condo being a corner unit. I live in southern Ontario, Canada; where, for the past few years, the Winters have been pretty mild and the Summers very hot and humid.

Wow! Did the stem that you cut root?

I got a can of white oil spray from my local nursery. Good for the leaves and they’re so glossy and rich after a spray and wipe down.

Yes! I gave mine a little polish with coconut oil, they’ve stayed shiny for weeks, it hasn’t harmed them at all, there’s been plenty of new growth since and they look like they belong in a magazine. Go for it!

I decided to clip the upper branches leaving the ‘trunk’ leading to the top of 4 or 5 short branches (now). Like you, I thought I killed it, but kept watering it, good lighting. And now, leaves are sprouting from about 5 inches from the soil on the trunk..? And there’s like 3 leaves coming, and they’re growing fast, and there’s even a new ‘tree’ sprouting up right next the old tree..?? I’m completely stumped and don’t know what to do..

Do I just prune the tree from the last leaf that’s growing? That would mean to cut the tree down to about 8 inches, and it’s about 3.5-4.5 feet now.. I was thinking of leaving it but, if there’s something I can do to help my little friend, I want to do it, and it seems like the time to do it, would be now.. Thanks everyone, I look forward to a response..